As we said earlier, “Yeesh”

NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTESFebruary 4, 2010 – New York Rangers 5, Washington Capitals 6 (Game #58, Home #30)
· The Rangers were defeated by the Washington Capitals, 6-5, tonight at Madison Square Garden; the 11 combined goals were the most at MSG since a 7-4 win on Nov. 23 vs. Columbus.
· The Blueshirts tallied four goals in six power play opportunities (4:57), the most since they notched five power play goals in a 6-1 win on December 29, 2007 at Toronto; eight Rangers players registered at least one power play point – R. Callahan, O. Jokinen, V. Prospal, M. Del Zotto, M. Gaborik, B. Dubinsky, M. Gilroy, and H. Lundqvist – the most for the Rangers in a single game since a 4-1 win on Mar. 15, 2009 vs. Philadelphia (eight players).
· New York has now posted a record of 25-26-7 (57 pts.) overall, including a 12-14-4 (28 pts.) mark at home this season.
· Rangers Alternate Captain Vinny Prospal notched two goals and two assists for a season-high four points; the four points also ties Prospal’s single-game career-high, accomplished six times before, the last time on Nov. 14, 2005 vs. Philadelphia (three goals and one assist); Prospal has now registered 11 points (three goals and eight assists) and a plus-seven rating in the last 10 games; he also tied for the game-high with five hits, which marks a personal season-high.
· Olli Jokinen registered two power play points (one goal and one assist) and led all skaters with seven shots on goal in his Madison Square Garden debut; his assist on Callahan’s power play goal at 8:58 of the first period was his first point as a Ranger; he has now recorded four points (one goal and three assists) in his last four games.
· Rangers Alternate Captain Ryan Callahan opened the game’s scoring with a power play goal at 8:58 of the first period, added a power play assist and tied for the game-high with five hits; Callahan now ranks second on the team in power play goals (eight) and power play points (17) on the season; he also logged a team-high 23:52 of icetime.
· Marian Gaborik recorded two assists, including one on the power play, and six shots in 20:51 of icetime; he has now registered 14 points (six goals and eight assists) and a plus-seven rating in the last 10 games.
· Rookie defensemen Michael Del Zotto and Matt Gilroy each recorded one power play assist and tied their career-high with four shots apiece; Del Zotto leads the team and ranks first among all NHL rookies with 13 power play assists on the season; Gilroy has now tallied five of his six assists at MSG.
· Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves and registered his first point of the season with an assist on Dubinsky’s power play goal at 18:48 of the second period; it was Lundqvist’s first point since he recorded a power play assist on the game-winning goal in a 3-1 win vs. the New York Islanders on Feb. 18, 2009.
· Forward Brandon Dubinsky notched one power play goal in 18:10 of icetime; he has now recorded 20 points (nine goals and 11 assists) in 27 games since returning from injury on Dec. 14 vs. Atlanta.
· Defenseman Marc Staal registered an assist on Prospal’s even strength goal at 16:50 of the first period; he ranks fourth on the team with 22 points at even strength, and has now recorded seven points (one goal and six assists) in the last 10 games.
· The Rangers will continue their three-game homestand on Saturday, Feb. 6, vs. the New Jersey Devils at Madison Square Garden (7:00 p.m.), in a matchup between Atlantic Division rivals; the game will be televised live on MSG 2 and can be heard on 970 The Apple.POST-GAME QUOTESJohn Tortorella on tonight’s game… “We created a number of scoring chances but being undisciplined and also giving up too many chances ourselves. We can’t lose that in our game as far as our defense. They are a great offensive team but we have to continue to work on our defense and let our offense go off of that.”Olli Jokinen on tonight’s game… “The bottom line is that I have to help this team win hockey games. We have to find a way to win because everyone knows where we are in the standings. We have to play every game as a playoff game. We have to take something positive out of every game – we scored five tonight. We have to play a lot better defensively.”Vinny Prospal on the team’s power play success… “I think we just shot the puck more. We shot the puck and went to the net and we got some bounces. We got some rebounds too. Our goals were on the rebounds, one was a five-on-three play and one was a tip in. That’s what you have to do when you’re struggling.”

Kovalchuk is a world class player. There won’t be any adjusting. He’s going to put up numbers no matter what.

The scary part is the Devils have everything Kovalchuk wants and if they can find a way to dish off Zubrus or Rolston, they have a chance of pretty much paying him whatever he wants, keeping Paul Martin, and still paying for the few more guys they need to bring in (can bring from the AHL too).

As for the game, I left when they were up 5-4. I was tired and knew what was going to happen. I wouldn’t get all giddy because they scored 6. The Caps we’re playing some young d-men and Jose Beachball isn’t exactly a wall.

REPOST
Hello Ranger Fans! Are we happy yet? Tonight we get to see OV and the Washington Carp-itals. Or is it drink VO and washing all the Carpets?

You should see Caps coach Bruce Boudreau from up here in my private box. He looks like a big flesh colored balloon on top of a suit.

Brash! Where is the world’s most expensive doorstop? Brashear, did you see Prust out there tonight? You know, you could be out there if you could fight. Or skate. Or pass. Or shoot. You CAN do me a favor though. Run out to Drury’s pizza joint and get me a couple pizzas. And don’t put those hot peppers on it this time. The last time I ended up with a five-alarm sphincter. Muck had to apply a double portion of Preparation H.

I was watching Rozival closely out there tonight. I wish I had one more like him. Trouble is I have six…

(singing) “Your No Good, Your No Good, Your No Good, Baby, Your No Good…” Good gracious, I think that’s Redden’s ring tone. I wonder what he wants? I already gave him everything. Wade… what’s up? Besides your career, that is… You want more ice time? All right, I’ll talk to the coach.. (click)

Torts? Would you keep Redden out there an extra hour at tomorrow’s practice? No, he wants to… Yeah, I thought it was a little strange, too.

Well Ranger fans,by now you know that Kovalchuk has managed to slip through my fingers. I tried every combination of Redden Rozival, Brashear, and Drury that I could think of. Maybe if I still had Higgins and Kotalik…

kovalsuck is a loafing floater who will let the peons do the backchecking. he won’t stoop to the indignity of actually breaking a sweat checking someone. wake him up when the devils get the puck because he won’t do anything while the opponents have it.

God really hates me. Kovalchuk is my favorite player in the league. I personally think that skill wise, he is by far the best in the league over Ovechkin, Malkin, and Crosby.

I knew the Rangers couldn’t get him because of the mother-byfuglien that Sather has put us in. But I was really hoping the Kings would get him or anyone else other than the Devils. Hell even the Islanders would be better (I grew up in the 90s so I don’t have the 80s hatred).

I really hope he doesn’t stay, but they have everything he wants. Smaller market/team due to the Rangers and Flyers being close. If they make one or two moves, they have the space to pay him 8+ million. And its a contender. I can’t watch him play for the Devils for the rest of his career, I honestly can’t do it.

just look at the Kovalsuck performance in those 4 playoff games a few years ago vs the Rangers. the rangers swept them, dominated them, and embarassed them, and Kovalsuck was a pathetic nothing in that series. he did squat and got swept by the mighty average rangers

also Waddell is an idiot. The Kings package was so much better and I’m sure if he threw in Salmela, the Kings would’ve moved JJ or at least another young d-man like Martinez and then added Simmonds. He took the weakest one, even though the Kings were ready to overpay for a potential rental.

i signed up to get email from the Preds and the Thrashers, it allows me to get dibs on tickets before the general public. I just got this in my email a little while ago and thought you guys would get a kick out of it:

“After several months of negotiations toward a long-term contract with forward Ilya Kovalchuk and his agent, we were unable to reach an agreement and elected to trade Kovalchuk and defenseman Anssi Salmela to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier and a first round draft pick in 2010.

We want you, our fans, to know that throughout the negotiation process, the Thrashers organization remained committed to offering Ilya a contract that exceeded those of the league’s best and highest paid players, and was commensurate to his skill level and performance history.

To that end, we offered Kovy several lucrative packages in an effort to meet his financial objectives. One offer that we extended to Ilya would have made him the highest paid NHL player on a per year average with $10 million per year for seven years. Another offer totaled more than $100 million over 12 years, and it, combined with the previous contractual commitments that were made to Kovy, would have earned him more money than any other NHL player in the history of the league.

If we had met Kovy’s ultimate demand, we would have jeopardized our ability to build a competitive team around him and retain our other young players as they became eligible for new contracts in the seasons ahead. At the end of the day, we couldn’t close that gap and simply reached a point at which we couldn’t reasonably go any higher.

We’re excited about the addition of all three players and feel that Johnny and Niclas will quickly complement our team of budding young stars, highly-skilled veterans and elite players. We also look forward to having Patrice join us in the near future. Our goals for this season have not changed—to make and advance as deep as possible in the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs—and we move ahead with a new sense of purpose that is energized by our continued climb in the standings as we position ourselves to compete with the best in the NHL.

We will maintain the option of bringing in more players, in addition to the ones that we have acquired in the trade, to make sure that we are fully competitive for the remainder of the season and the postseason.

We thank Ilya and Anssi for all they have done for our organization and wish them well. And we thank you, for your continued support, and look forward to your enthusiastic presence in Blueland to help drive us into the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Kovalchuk is a “pathetic nothing”? Listen, I’m just as unhappy about him going to a divisional rival as anyone else, but that’s just ignorant. The guy is a goal machine, pure and simple, and I don’t think there’s going to be any adjustment period with his new team. The dude just scores goals.

“Clearly, the company line here is that signing Kovalchuk at his demands would have crippled the team’s ability to build around him and to retain young players like Evander Kane(notes) and Zach Bogosian(notes) when they became free agents. “We haven’t won a playoff game yet,” said Waddell. “We need to build this team with that in mind. If you pay one player the cap amount, it really ties your hands.””

Don’t kid yourselves, Thrashers had to do this – the team is hurting financially. Could be out of ATL in 2 years if the money doesn’t turn around. Look at Dallas – rumors of missing payroll last week and NHL is helping w/cash. Tampa look for new ownership and hurting. That’s 3 teams right there that will be moved to Canada of more northern US cities by 2014.

Also Kovalchuk wanted out. He’s not going to ask for 10 million from a contender. His agent played it perfectly and Waddell screwed himself by saying teams couldn’t have negotiating rights and saying how much he offered Kovy. Any smart GM would know that no superstar would accept a huge deal like that to play for a crap team.

I think the Devils are legitimate contenders with this move. I also think they have removed the logjam and there will be a lot more trades up to the trade deadline. Now that one major trade is done, other contenders are going to have to adjust quickly while talent is still available.

Only makes sense why Lou would take a player who wont fit in with his system over a team that was drooling for him. Devils might trade him for Neidermayer to LA. Devils want Neidermayer as much as LA wanted Kovi. I still see a trade. Kovi wont stay as a devil by the deadline

That was an absolute heartbreaker of a game, and then to get home from the game and see that the Devils got Kovy… Painful. Just painful.

Can we at least be excited about the power play?? Probably not.

One last thought: Ovie is FAR and away the most dangerous player in the NHL. I hate him deep down inside. Oh and just saw Drury’s weak ass dump in at the end of the second. I hate him and his byfuglien pizza too.

i read a comment before by jonny d, you would seriously not mind if kovalchuk went to the islanders over the devils? i grew up in the 90s also and i despise the piles. i wish kovalchuk went to the kings, we’d never see him again. you gotta love that crosby, malkin, and kovalchuk are in our division. with our retarded GM, we’re looking at least another 10 years of failure even if sather is fired.

i hope to work hard in my life so i can become a billionaire and buy the rangers.

Wicky – believe it or not but Buffalo’s defense is softer than ours. They wouldn’t touch Witt with a 10 foot pole. For his pro-rated salary, contract next year, and the fact that he is minus 18 and still technically injured he just isn’t worth it. I know he hits, but hes a terrible defenseman. I’d rather have Phaneuf over him, and that says a lot considering how much I didn’t want Phaneuf on the Rangers.

We need to sell off some guys. If you want hitting d-men, we should try to trade for the some guys with expiring deals. We don’t need to worry about hitting d-men when we aren’t going anywhere. Try to sign one in the offseason or negotiate one after we trade for one (Shane Hnidy or someone like that).

ry-man – I just meant over the Devils. I hate the Isles. I like their players and their work ethic, but they are still the Isles. I would’ve preferred him anywhere out West, especially the Kings since they are pretty much my favorite team out there.

according to Dreger on TSN, other teams were scared off by his contract demands. he was offered a 12 year contract for $101 million by Atl, and turned his nose at it. no way Lou gives him that kind of money. he is a rental with a miserable playoff history. only made it once in 9 years, and got swept in 4 games by the Rangers

I really think the sabres d is not as soft as ours, but i could be wrong…ithink ours is by far the softest in the league. We just added another sniper in our division that will be happy to run amuck in our d zone without worrying no one is going to put him on his butt from our blueline!!

Kovalchuk’s agent got him to ask for that much so he could get out of Atlanta. He said last year that his decision to stay would depend on if Atlanta looked like contenders. They don’t so he wanted out. Can’t blame him.

And you can’t bash his playoff history because its not his fault the Thrashers are a terribly run franchise. He’s been the only constant since they got rid of Heatley, Savard, and Hossa and no matter how much he can carry a team, he can’t carry a whole team all year.

Also I should say that I mean Kovalchuk will take less money to go to a contender. He’ll probably take somewhere like 8 mil or 8.5

Wicky – if you ask anyone in Buffalo, they always talk about how soft their team is. Their only fighter is Gaustad and he can’t fight anymore. Their toughest guy on D is maybe Craig Rivet? Tyler Myers is huge but he’s not the most physical guy.

the caps are going in the east. now NJ is the 2nd best team. they will not sign Kovy long term. the drury dump caused them to lose. the rangers need to seel Prospal, at the deadline and Jokinnnen and GIrardi and try to accumulate more picks..

dubi is a 20 to 25 goal man best case scenario, he also does not strike me as an einstein…..

drury is the most dissapointing signing he is not even a 18 goal man any more. he should think about retiring he looks old and slow really, not trying to pile on………..

I am a die hard fan and i think this team SUCKS!!!! hence, this team sucks! seasons over! Good job Glen Sather! ur friggin tellin me u could t give up del zotto, callahan, grachev and a draft pick for Kovalchuk!??!?!?!?! what an idiot!!!!!!!!

Jonny D
Not to make it a big deal, but anything Sather offered HAD to be more than what Lou offered. Oduya has been a bust with his new contract, and Bregfors took 5 years to get in the line up, and hit a wall. Cormier id the best part of the trade. But there is no telling what he’ll be after what he did to that kid. He’s got to be scared. Atlanta got a bust in oduya, and a bottom feeder in bergfors. Also a horrible placed 1st pick. It makes no sense at all.

I don’t think Sather needed to offer much. No need to risk his prospects. Devils unloaded guys they didnt want. So, Sather must have offered something small, which must have been more than Lou offered. The entire thing makes very little sense. If Atlanta thought they got the best deal, then Waddell has to be the worst GM in the history of all sports.

It came down to this: ATL wanted to take NO salary back (well they took Oduya but he doesn’t make THAT much), there was no possible scenario where we could have traded for him and fit him under the cap.

Wait till the offseason. IMO the smart move is to sign Patrick Marleau. Now if we get Kovalchuk he’ll just join the ranks of every former Devil not named Brendan Shanahan or Pat Verbeek that we’ve ever had.

jonny
rivet alone is tougher than anyone on our d, so that in itself makes me think they are not as soft as we are.

As far as those players being our future…the closest one to a sure thing is MDZ and i wouldn’t necessarily send him packing, but i guess for the right proven player it might be worth it(it would be tough though). Kovy is CERTAINLY proven!! Grachev and some other htfd talent have proven NOTHING and no one can guarantee that they are not hugh jessiman any more than any of these prospects end up being lucky luc at this point. Do you trade them all in a package for mike modano at this point, no of course not, but…for kovy and his PROVEN record??? The only part you have to consider is his after this season salary, and with the current cap issues we have, you just can’t do this deal.

If the rangers don’t do the deal due to the players they didn’t want to give up out of hartford, STUPID!! If they don’t do the deal because of not being able to keep him after the season due to salary, reasonable!

I personally think it is an awful deal for Atlanta. They probably could have gotten more form another team. Oduya was good 1-2 years ago but is having an awful year. bergfors and cormier have yet to make any true impact in the league. and a late 1st rounder.

then again, kovalchuk is not worth more than 8-8.5 million per season for 5 years if gabby got 7.5 for 5 years.

Look, not letting anyone off the hook, but at least they tried hard last night against a far superior team. And another thing to keep in mind…Washington was so very lucky on at least a half dozen of those bounces that fell right into their laps…on the other hand they never missed an opportunity to take advantage of those bounces also.

Roszival actually hit someone last night. that’s a first.

And man – does Lundqvist give up REBOUNDS! Poor Redden..he looks so lost out there trying to play with the real players.

Anyone still thinking playoffs? Lucky if they don’t make it. At least that way the front office brass can stop kidding themselves. Nevertheless, in spite of all the
deking and dorking out there..it was at least an entertaining game. Despite the outcome, which was predictable.

I agree with Carp – i give Slats credit for the restraint (this time). Waddell would have loved Slats to get involved but Slats can’t trade for that sort of player without shifting one of the toxic trio’s contracts to create the cap space.

At least we still have our key young players, 1st round pick and prospects – no way was Kovalchuk going to make us a contender for the cup this year, it would have been giving away talent to win a handful of playoff games, maybe a series, but eventually be left without a cup, without a Kovy when he walks as a UFA and probably without 2 of Staal/Dubi/Cally/Stepan/Kreider and next years 1st rounder.

He makes the Devils a whole lot more dangerous and will give the Capitals and Pens some competition for the Conference Championship.

The powerplay was good tonight but the
but the PK was aweful. We played a great first period I thought. But you cant run and gun with the best O in the league,
Ovi in Washington, Kovi in NJ. Crosby in Pitt……We are in for a decade of disappointment if the Rangers dont clean up the Cap mess. Depressing…

there is one more chance at a star player, Vinny L. if the Ranger can’t get him, then it will be time to sell. Prospal, Jokinen, Girardi, and anyone else who may have some value to a team looking to make a run. 8th place is getting further and further away.

The Rangers should send Roszival,Redden,and Girardi to Hartford and bring up Hiekenen,Sangunetti and Potter immediately. That would be better than any stupid trade that Sather could make. Unless it is for a 40 goal scorer or Chara,Bowmeester,Pronger,Visnoski,Doughty,or Seabrook to play defense.

First, if it is true that some idiot “fan” flashed a laser light in Theodore’s face at the end of the game, that is a disgrace and an embarassment to all Rangers fans. On tv you could see a green light in his face. Disgusting.
Second, if Sather couldn’t rent Kovalchuk because he hadn’t gotten around to waiving a defenseman yet as Brooks says, that’s all on Sather. That’s poor management, and sadly typical.

I have changed my mind. I do not want any of them. lets gut this team. get rid of Prospal, Jokinen, Girardi,Redden, Roszi, Staal, and Dubi. clear them all out and start over. trade for more prospects and draft choices, play the guys in Hartford. I can’t stand the treadmill any more. this team sucks to watch, it has no heart, no talent, and no toughness.

No to VL – horrible long contract and seemingly in a gradual decline (as Stamkos takes over the team).
Isn’t Brad Richards just a slightly younger Chris Drury (with an even bigger cap hit)? Richards is another 60-70 point scorer and a perennial minus player.

We need legit secondary scoring – someone who can pot 25-30 goals with some size and skill to play with Dubinsky and Callahan….and we need to look for it in the summer. No way are we going to get past Pit, Wash or NJ in the playoffs – as the famous saying goes “you can’t put lipstick on a pig”.

We don’t want anything to do w/ Vinny L. What a horrible move that would be. His contract is horrendous, and it goes on forever.

Let’s be honest. The Rangers are going NOWHERE even if they happen to make the playoffs. They will be fed to the wolves in the first round. We need to sell a few guys (Prospal, Rozi), waive Captain Clutch, & send Redden to Hartford. Maybe look at signing Marleau in the offseason.

Unfortunately, none of this will happen. Sather will most likely acquire a big name at the deadline and add more salary.

i agree with everyone who wants to sell. no more rentals. we cant even win a regular season home game anymore for gods sake!! what have we won 1-2 home games in the last 15 games?? this team is going nowhere. i honestly thought our defense and team defense would be ok without betts,shoe,korpi,etc.. and it just sucks bad. gilroy is a big bust. dz is terrible but has time to grow. staal doesnt hit and hes 6’3″!! redden and rozy both are pansies. and s bad as they are defensively, who would ever think that rozy under torts would have 1 goal, as opposed to 10 and 13 under renny. redden also just 1 goal. drury even has much less than last year. how can torts not get these guys to score in this highly offensive style? at least renny knew they couldnt score. i see drury on the 4th line getting more minutes than avery/lisin and AA!! why? ohh i know we had 8-9 penalties, so its inflated. but still, hes out there at the end in our last attempts to tie the game. put somebody else out there!!

Good move by Sather. He didn’t give up anything of value for a rental that would or wouldn’t get them into playoffs. Even if they get in, Kovalchuk wouldn’t make any difference beyond that. Not with our team at the moment. Sather will get a shot at him after July 1st. I don’t see Kovalchuk staying there. Nor I see Lou offering him what he wants. But now the Devils can tangle with Pens and Caps. Good move by Lou. And don’t say he gave up nothing. He gave up two pretty good players, first rounder and a prospect. In his mind, who knows what happens to Marty after this year.

As of today, we still have all our young players and assets. Isn’t it what you all want?

Forget about what package it would have taken to land him. The most distressing thing about not getting Kovalchuk is that Dolan is clearly not willing to eat Redden’s contract and bury him in Hartford. If he’s not willing to do that, there’s no way to clear enough space in the short term to add an elite player. So it’s Gabby, Hank and the interchangeable gang for the forseeable future.
You’d better hope that some of these young kids develop into superstars. Otherwise Rangers can not compete.

Of course a loss is a loss. We can’t stay with any elite teams no matter how many goals we score. And how often does that happen? It was nice to talk at the beginning of the season about what they did better or could do. We need points now. And we are not getting them.

I will be upset if they don’t make the playoffs. But I won’t be heartbroken. I don’t feel as much hunger for the playoffs as I did 7 years ago. We did it for 4 years. We want more. And we all know that they will not go too far. No rentals. Not for the price of young players and picks.

A trade for VL won’t happen til the offseason if at all. Tampa has no reason to trade him at this time. May happen at the draft. Drury would likely have to retire first. I hope he has half as much class as Naslund did. Under no circumstances can we go into next season with $7m centering the 4th line.

Supposed to start around 6ish and go until tomorrow afternoon. Kind of hampering a bunch of things for me actually. I have to go to my sister-in-law’s bday party during the day tomorrow, and I am supposed to go to Warren tomorrow night for the game/after game festivities. I really hope I still get to do both, if not 1 of the 2, preferably Warren. We shall see.

Got it. My wife and I going to the game and W77 after. Laurel should be there by then. TR and mrs are coming at 10:45, I think. Let me know if you’re taking the SI ferry, and if yes, what time. I might be able to pick you up if you are going to the game first.

Thank you. I am not sure yet. I was going to try and get tickets for the game, but then this bday party was scheduled. If I come in, we will either take the train, or drive in. Not sure yet with the weather and all.

LI, Cause it’s a new day, cause it’s Friday and the sun is shining. Cause they scored 5 last night. Take your pick. Yeah, it sucks that they lost and how they did it. But to be honest, I was expecting them to get killed last night and they actually put up a fight, so I can’t be too down. This team is flawed and is not going anywhere in the playoffs if they even make it in, I can accept that. There needs to be changes made, I can accept that, also. But the team has been hamstrung by Sather and for some reason he’s still the GM and yeah, I could be very angry about that and rant and rave, but some reason, I’m very zen about it all. Maybe I’m just beaten down by the disappointment and the ineptitude of management and the players. I don’t know.

Wish I was able to go as well. Out of all places, I’ll be at the Pru center on Saturday night (father in law is a cut man for a middle weight boxer that’s fighting there, I’ll try to hide the spare lightbulbs from the arena crew though).

Plus I can’t drink given my current condition, which is really tough when dealing with the Rangers these days.

MickeyM I think you’re experiencing Stockholm syndrome. We know that us the fans have been hijacked by Sather and his moronic spending ways, but you’re starting to feel some sort of affection for your captor. I suggest printing out a picture of Sather and then drawing devil horns coming out of his head and looking at it every morning.

All of the time, energy, anguish, and suffering that you and I put into this team is totally wasted as long as the incompetent buffoon with the cigar is still in the driver’s seat.

Until he’s put out to pasture, nothing will ever change.

That said, the incompetent buffoon with a rich daddy – who pays the incompetent buffoon with the cigar’s salary – will still be there to hire another incompetent buffoon to replace the incompetent buffoon with the cigar.

First of all I wanted Kolvy. Now what went down is Waddell is a idiot, I understand he didn’t want $ back but how bad is this deal for Atl. with atleast 4 serious suitors out there? For the NYR not completely a bad thing anytime NJ has to lose a 1st round pick its good, they know how to use them. They won’t sign him so that’s not a worry, he could have went to Pitt,Philly,Caps and that’s a whole lot worse in my mind. The Rangers to make the deal either Rosi or Redden had to be in it financially and I quess ATl was having any of that. I would have sweeten the pot with one of those guys with picks, because we are the opposite of NJ there and throw in anybody they wanted off of our zero talent roster. Oh well hurts to see him in NJ but it could have been worse. As far as NJ did, again LL did the surprising and right thing to make a final push for Fatso, but he aint what he used to be and Pitt/Caps are still a good way in front of NJ after this deal. Those 2 are just on a higher level plain and simple. NYR our only goal from here to 7/1/10 is to cut CAP Space any way any how.

Dont know what everyone else was expecting last night, but that was as good as I can possibly feel about a loss for the Rangers.

Powerplay, 5 on 3, 5 on 5 goals, all positives.
I think we all can admit we thought it was going to be a 7-1 or a 5-0 game, but I digress..

So here’s our stats as of this morning:

25-26-7 = 57 points

10th in the east/2 points out of a playoff spot

24 games remaining/4 games left in Feb before the break.

If the team pulls off 12 wins by the end of the season we will have 81 points

Is this the year that teams WILL NOT need a minimum of 90-94 points to make the playoffs?

I cant remember the last time, if ever that happened, but if you look at the standings in the East, the last 3-4 spots are so wide open, and teams keep losing (Bruins, Isles, Atlanta, Tampa, Florida, and on and on)

So it honestly may come down to less points to make it this year than in years past.

My point though, is for right now, if Sather can unload Rosi and or Girardi before the deadline, he should do it, and FAST, and nto concentrate on the the playoffs, but on makign the team better goign forward.

Call this our rebuilding year, Del Z and Gilroy got the first year experience, Torts assesed an dknows who he can rely on and who he wants to keep on this team, so make the tough decisions and move forward

Only hope for us going into next year (IF we miss the playoffs completely) is to Waive Redden, and keep the pieces you’ll want next season.

PS Marelau is a Free Agent in the summer, woudlnt he look great in Blue?

I DO give Sather credit for showing some restraint with Kovalchuk. What really would have been the benefit for us as a team goign forward? We wouldnt be able to resign him, we would still be weak on D, and we would still have a 50/50 shot at making the playoffs.

So Kudos to you Glen, hopefully this will be what your remembered for as you retire in the summer (God Willing)

And I have af unny feelign that Kovalchuck in Nj is goign to be weird for them and for him and htat it doesnt have the desired effect. Yeah he’llg et them some mroe goals, but does he really fit the culture there? Especially when’s he pretty much said flat out that it’s all about the $$.

There was no point in selling the farm for a rental player, anyone who says otherwise is a moron. Some of you get it, but in general this blog has taught me that Rangers fans still don’t get it. How many times does this team have to sell off kids for vets before they understand it does not work? The Rangers finally have an adequate stable of young kids to build on and some of you are willing to trade them for a rental. OMG that one poster says “trade Del Zotto, Grachev, Dubinsky” as if its a nobrainer, wow really? You fans have been moronized by the Rangers stupid management for the past 50 years. They are finally getting it right and you are up in arms. Congrats to those that get it and I feel sorry for those that don’t. You might better stick with the the Yankees, they can buy all the glitter you want.

Johnny D I know you wanted Kovly in LA and Waddell could have got a better deal,real head scratcher, but their aint no way he’s more talented than AO-Malkin-Crosby. And I actually like him better than the 2 ice chickens but it’s not the fact. As far as AO goes he is the BEST hockey player I have ever seen period. He’s sometimes is a spot picker,boards and leaves his feet and doesn’t get called and tends to piss me off once in a while, but he is no doubt the Total Package. That statement includes,Grettzy,Lindstrom,Mario,Crosby,Messier,Stevie I,and whom ever else. I saw the end of Orr and can’t comment on Howe.

CT, I have NO affection for Sather. I would love to hang him up by his heels outside and let people pelt him with anything they got. I wish he would go on a permanent fishing trip- to Africa or the Amazon.

Honestly, after last year as a Mets fan and in my personal life, which were both wretched, I’ve taken to looking at all the postives in 2010. I can see all the negatives around the Rangers, but I’m choosing to dwell on the positives- the young guys getting more experience, the joy of watching Gabby score, Fankist’s utter euphoria when he scores, Hank when he makes an amazing save, DZ’s great vision, etc. I finally realized that it’s better to look at the green grass than at that dark clouds, so to speak.

mikeyNJ, Agree totally with your 10:33 post. I expected them to get their butts kicked last night and was pleasantly surprised when they didn’t. The loss sucked, yeah, but it was MUCH better than it could have been.

The only thing is that with the Mets you can at least put a lot of the blame on the injuries. They were in first place and in contention after that for a little while. Their management is no better at building teams and there are more ways to fix things in baseball in terms of eating contracts, sharing salaries to offload players, etc.

If the Rangers don’t bite the bullet on at least one of the terrible trios they really can’t enact meaningful changes for at least another 2 years when Rozi and Drury’s contracts expire. And this is assuming they don’t do anything stupid between now and then.

What a disappointment. This game turned in the last 20 seconds of the second period and the first few minutes of the third period.

First, Lundqvist has to stop that powder puff of a shot by Ovechkin. Having said that, what is the 4th line doing on the ice in the last seconds of a period with Ovechkin on the ice? I am really starting to question some of the decision making choices Tots is making over the last bunch of game.

Secondly, How the heck does Lundqvist not make a save on that floater of a wrist shot from the blue line?

Lastly. Penalties, Penalties, Penalties. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb ONES. Girardi and Dubi real bad penalties. Ollie takes 3 only one is what I consider a good one, the other 2 bad.

We need to be sellers. Gotta unlaod Redden, Drury, Rosi, Giradi. Don’t care if we get happy meals back for them.

Hedberg – I only say that because when he is going all out (and he did a couple times in Atlanta), he is just as good as those 3 in regards to taking games over. I think back to a game against Ottawa last year where the team was down 4-0 in the 3rd period. In the last 10 minutes, Kovalchuk scored a hat trick, assisted on the 3rd goal, and hit the post and almost made it 5-4. They they lost 6-4 on an empty netter. The rest of his team just sat back and kind of watched as Kovalchuk pretty much did everything and Ottawa couldn’t stop him.

He’s done that a couple times before. If you put him with real teammates who don’t just sit back and watch when he’s taking over a game, the point totals will be right up there and his teams will win. The fact is he’s had crap teams around him and never had the help the Ovi, Malkin, and Crosby have had. If he was anywhere but Atlanta, he’d be in the same situation those other 3 have been in the last few years.

nice post, how does CAPTAIN CLUTCH NOT DUMP THE PUCK WITH 10 SECONDS TO GO IN THE PERIOD INSTEAD HE MAKES A LATERAL PASS AT HIS OFFENSIVE BLUELINE FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER! AMAZING HOW BAD THIS GUY REALLY IS-IT IS SICKENING REALLY IS

John – I’d love to trade those guys, but we can’t. Drury has a full NMC and will never accept a trade. Nobody wants Redden’s contract since there are 4 years left on it (Glen has tried to get rid of it). Rozsival is a maybe because he’s played much better over the last 2 1/2 months and only has another 2 years left on his deal, so its a bit more attractive. Girardi we definitely can because he’s an expiring contract and pretty cheap.

We just need to stockpile some prospects and work on two things:

1) Getting a true playmaking center or winger. We have none, and its why we can’t score. Everyone is shoot shoot shoot instead of slowing down and finding the open guy in the slot. Secondary scoring won’t help us do anything if we don’t have real guys to get them the puck.

2) A stay at home d-man who is physical and relatively reliable. I can deal with a hitting d-man making a few positioning mistakes, as long as he scares other teams from entering the zone with speed. I don’t want a Witt or Denis Gauthier that are too slow and turn the puck over though. Just a guy with decent speed who hits and makes simple plays.

The only chance the Rangers have in the crap cap world is to eat salaries. They have the money to do it. I know that the posture and the everyday demeanor of this team will change instantly if the owners of the team will eat 3 or 4 contracts. It amounts to peanuts for Cablevision.

Not to mention the play where Cally stripped Ovie of the puck on the PP and broke down into the Caps zone. Drury was skating at first to keep up with the play and then glided in the middle of the ice. No skating hard to the net, no acting as a decoy to open up the D, completely ignoring the basic fundamentals of the game. Cally then predictably was stood up and the play went the other way.

I’m not sure how you can feel good after game like this. It was L and a bad L. I don’t know what Lundqvist was doing in the net yesterday but it was weak. He didn’t give this team a usual “chance”. Seemed to me like every slapshot from the blueline was almost a goal or actually a goal. But, in the same time you cannot win a game if you have 9 penalties. 9!!! They could win, they should win but again it’s a loss, and I felt a lot worse if that would be a 6-zip blowout. It was close, that’s why it hurts. Too bad we have to play Devils with Kovalchuk on Sat. Let’s hope NJ will not improve immediately, they play tonight so maybe they won’t be 100% at the Garden tomorrow. GO NYR!!!

The bottom line is everyone has trouble playing on the Rangers. It’s a high pressure market. Fans, expectations, media..etc. Players that do well in other markets will not excel here, and they probably won’t even be good here. See Kovalev, Nedved in Pittsburgh. Robitaille in LA. Fluery in Calgary. The list goes on. It seems to be that only players that are exceptional in other markets come here and do well. (Messier, Gretzky, Gaborik, Bure(for the time he was healthy).
That’s why I think they should go for Kovy. The man can score goals while he is unconscious. Forget Marleau. The man has played on one of the best teams his entire career and has averaged 26 goals per year. On top of that he is having a career year this year. He’ll command a ridiculous salary, come to NY, and do nothing. Kovy has averaged 41 goals per year playing on a bad team. Dubinsky might be a good player on another team, so might Callahan. But that doesn’t do anything for us in NY, and in NY they are just average. I’d much rather have Kovy on this team.

How can Gaby be anything but an A+ – look at the stats he’s put up in defense-first Minny and now on a scoring-impaired Rangers team.
He is in the #4 in goals, #6 in points and on a team as bad as this still a +11.

I think everyone agrees with last night, we lost because we (Torts what were you thinking!) put our 4th line out against their top line when trying to close out the 2nd period and then took some dumb penalties which (credit to the Caps) they took advantage of in the 3rd.

We’ll see in the summer whether Kovy is after money or a chance to win a Stanley Cup. If he’s interested in a Stanley cup then he should not be demanding league maximum as no team can build a winner when one player gets 20% of the cap – he should be looking to get $7-8m on a team with some legit young stars or a perennial contender like Detroit.

John – I agree. The only two we can eat are Redden and Rozsival because they won’t have cap implications if we just send them down. Drury we would have to buy out but it might not be worth it with 2 years left and 8 million of actual money owed next year.

CTBlueshirt, I can’t believe that Callahan F-d that breakaway up though. Drury did the right thing. Cally had the breakaway and the team was shorthanded. If Drury goes to the net and him and Cally both get caught deep and fall or get hit, its a 4 on 2 or maybe even 5 on 2 the other way. Thats a guaranteed goal. Drury did the right thing there to follow up the play if there was a rebound. Buy Cally botched it like usual.

CT, darn straight on the Mets and baseball in general. And on the Rangers situation. Rozi seems the best contract to dump as there are less years/less money and he ‘s actually playing better than Redden and Drury.

Prucha – 1) We can’t keep Kovalchuk because we don’t have the money. So he’d be a rental and we’d be giving up useful assets for a guy who isn’t re-signing. 2) Nedved had one of his best seasons here and was fine. Fleury had a great year here until he got hurt mid season. He led the league in points until that injury. Robitaille was somewhat over the hill when we got him anyway.

Plus guys underachieve here because they get a bigger contract. They put up the same numbers they do in other cities, but because of the bigger payday, more is expected of them. Scott Gomez put up his career averages, but because he was getting paid 7 mil instead of 3 or 4, he was a bust when in reality he was just doing what he normally does.

UKRanger – Gabby isn’t an A+. I know his stats are impressive, but he’s not a guy that can carry a team because he’s a one dimensional player. He doesn’t have moves, he can’t protect the puck for all that long when his feet around moving, and his defense is decent, but nothing special. He’s like Hossa, just better on offense and a little worse on defense.

Pretty much Gabby is known for scoring and does so by being deceptive and crashing the net. He’ll never really beat a guy one on one with a great move. All he does for moves is kind of poke the puck through a d-mans legs and blow past them. I’m not saying he’s not a great player because he is, but he’s not a 1st rate super star like Ovechkin, Crosby, Malkin, Kovalchuk, and a few other guys in the league.

Jonny, I think Cally was thinking pass the whole time. He was already out wide as he hauled it through the neutral zone so unless he was going to risk taking it through the middle I think he was trying to buy some time for Drury to move into the slot. Put toward the net, maybe Dru gets it, and then release Cally back into the high slot for a follow up or at least be in position to defend the other way.

Now they may have gotten confused as to whether Cally was going to carry it further, shoot it, pass it off, but when Dru stopped skating it became basically a 1 on 2.

THE CONTRACT point I am making isn’t timed to be able to hire a free agent. There are no free agents in this league worth anything after the top 10 forwards in points and the top 7 defenseman in plus minus. So the the real adjustment here is to rid the team of bad influences on its younger players. That is worth much more than hiring average players and paying them enough to warrant criticism from the hockey world based on salary.

This team is really not hard to understand. they are just not that good. If Hank has an average game they lose. He made some really good saves last night, but he also let in some easy ones.
The defencive end of things for this team is the main problem, the D is very young and they make lots of mistakes. Make mistakes against the Caps and you are going to lose. Also you can’t play short handed as often as the Rangers did last night and beat anyone. It was great to see the power play work, but that is about the only plus I could take away from that outing. I wonder who Torts is going to bench after that one?

CT – good point. I just think in that situation Cally should’ve just gone with it. He had Ovechkin beat and has the speed to take it all the way in.

Salty – he’s been decent on breakaways. I’d say he’s 50/50. But he still has hands of stone and can’t beat a d-man to save his life. I love Cally’s work ethic, but he’s not the most skilled player.

nyr13 – Brodeur doesn’t care. He just signed a new deal around the same time Lundqvist did and took less money to stay with the Devils so he would keep them out of cap trouble. The difference between Henke and Marty (as much as I hate him) is that Marty doesn’t care about the money, he wants to win. Henke wants to win, but he wants to get paid too.